CHAPTER X 



TURKEYS 



The turkey is commonly considered the best of birds for the 

 table, the most desirable for any festive occasion, and quite in- 

 dispensable on Thanksgiving Day. It is the largest bird grown 

 for its flesh. As usually found in the markets, geese and turkeys 

 are of about the same weight, because most people, when buying 

 a large bird for the table, want those that, when dressed, weigh 

 about ten or twelve pounds ; but the largest turkeys are con- 

 siderably heavier than the largest geese, and the proportion of 

 extra large birds is much greater among turkeys. 



Description. A dressed turkey and a dressed fowl are quite 

 strikingly alike in shape. The most noticeable difference is in 

 the breast, which is usually deeper and fuller in a turkey. The 

 living birds are distinctly unlike in appearance, the carriage of 

 the body and the character and expression of the head of the 

 turkey being very different from those of the fowl. The head 

 and upper part of the neck are bare, with a few bristly hairs. 

 The bare skin is a little loose on the head and very much looser 

 on the neck, forming many small folds, some of which are sac- 

 like. It varies in color from a livid bluish-gray to brilliant scarlet. 

 An elongated, trunklike extension of the skin at the juncture 

 of the beak with the head takes the place of the comb in the 

 fowl. There is a single wattle under the throat, not pendent 

 from the jaw, as in the fowl, but attached to the skin of the 

 neck. The feathers on the lower part of the neck are short, and 

 the plumage of the whole body is closer and harder than that of 

 most fowls. The wings are large. The tail spreads vertically and 

 is usually carried in a drooping position. This, with the shortness 



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